A much needed catch-up

Hi crafters! How are you doing? Hope you had a great weekend! I’ve gone quiet for a bit so I wanted to let you know what had been going on behind the scenes. I can’t believe it’s almost mid May already! Time really flies 🙂

I took some days off to go back to Spain and visit my friends and family in April. After all, it was my birthday and I felt I wanted to spend it with them. Sometimes it’s good to stop and go back to basics. Isn’t it? Simply enjoying a good chat with a friend or sitting around the table with your family. Is something that I didn’t quite appreciate when I lived in Madrid, I just gave it for granted. But now that I live abroad I’ve come to really value spending time with them.

So what have I been up to in Spain? Well, I must admit there’s been too much eating and nibbling going on! LOL! And lots of reading, going for walks in the countryside, crocheting by the fireplace as well catching up with friends and family.

I kept reminding myself to take pics so I could share all of these moments with you… but after the first couple of days there I totally forgot about my iPhone and the outside world (having no wi-fi most of the time helped too!).

On my birthday, David and I went horse riding (my body ached for days! – I must be getting old) and later spent the day in Segovia.

It was such a lovely day! My parents organised a dinner for the four of us at one of my favourite restaurants, El Vagón de Beni. The tables are set inside an old train wagon and the surroundings are like a train platform with its clock and suitcases. Stunning!

We also spent some days with David’s family in a little village in Toledo called Castillo de Bayuela. The countryside always helps me relax and recharge batteries 🙂

When we got back home in London D. bought this beautiful orchid for me. I promise I’ll do my best not to over-water it, but I must admit I’m not too good with orchids… I’m more of the green-and-easy-to-take-care-of kind. Will let you know how things go…

So you’ll probably think – that’s great but what about all the crafty stuff? (Because this is indeed a crafts blog!). You’ll be happy to know there’s been lots of that going on too… I will give you a quick update but you’ll have to bear with me for a bit while I write all the posts on these projects.

My desk is in need of a revamp… so far there has been a lot of patterned paper cutting going on.

I have also finished a lovely green shawl and the baby blanked I showed you in the WIPs post. But those will have to wait as I need a bit of time and some decent light to take good pics 🙂

My sewing machine has also been busy this month… I made some pyjama trousers for D. and a dress and a skirt for me 🙂

Pebbles and succulents… you’ll have to wait to see the final result…

And last but not least… Blogtacular! I had a great time this weekend meeting some of the most amazing bloggers 🙂 I promise to tell you more about this great experience… but that will have to be on another post. In the meantime, here are a few pics.

Styling session with Ellie Tennant

Goody bag 🙂

And that’s all folks! This is probably the longest post I’ve done so far… but there was so much to catch up on, wasn’t there?